1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to cavities and accompanying substrates in which the cavities are formed. Specifically, the present invention relates to cavities that are coupled to circuits or other features and further relates to methods for creating such cavities.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cavities are employed in various demanding applications including micro thrusters, airbag initiators, and initiators for munitions. Such applications often demand cost-effective explosive-filled microcavities that can be readily positioned and coupled to a control circuit.
Initiators often include a heating element, such as a bridgewire or reactive bridge, which is adjacent to an energetic material. For the purposes of the present discussion, an energetic material may be any material that may selectively ignite, burn, explode, or otherwise release energy.
When activated via a control circuit, the bridgewire heats and ignites the energetic material. The bridgewire and primary energetic material are often embedded in a physical cap or cavity and then individually positioned on a circuit board or chip via a pick-and-place robot. The bridgewire is then coupled to the accompanying control circuit.
Conventional fabrication schemes often require several serial processes, wherein each device is processed individually, such as via a robotic assembly line. Unfortunately, such manufacturing techniques are often undesirably expensive and inefficient.
Hence, a need exists in the art for a cost-effective and versatile cavity structure and accompanying method for making same.